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Emperor Group Temporarily Halts North Korea Casino Operation on Kim Death

By Vinicy Chan - 2011-12-21T16:01:00Z

Emperor Group's Chairman Albert Yeung

Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

Albert Yeung, chairman of Emperor Group.

Albert Yeung, chairman of Emperor Group. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

Emperor Group, a Hong Kong-based company with investments in hotels and financial services, has halted its North Korea casino operation following the death of Kim Jong Il.

“Our hotel in North Korea is operating as usual while the casino is temporarily suspended,” Sherman Wu, a spokeswoman at Emperor Group, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The group doesn’t “have any contingency plan at the moment” for the hotel.

North Korea’s leadership is undergoing a transition after Kim died Dec. 17, the official Korean Central News Agency said on Dec. 19. His son, Kim Jong Un, is the designated successor. Billionaire Chairman Albert Yeung’s Emperor Group runs a five- star Emperor Hotel & Casino at the Rason Special Economic Zone in North Korea since 1999, according to the company’s website.

The group’s hotel offers 150 standard rooms and suites.

The Emperor Group’s listed subsidiaries include brokerage Emperor Capital Group Ltd. (717), investment holding company Emperor International Holdings (163) Ltd. and Emperor Entertainment Hotel Ltd. (296)

To contact the reporter on this story: Vinicy Chan in Hong Kong at vchan91@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Longid at flongid@bloomberg.net